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As Many As Received The Word
As Many As Received The Word
"As many as received the word were baptized…" (Acts 2:41). What a remarkably concise statement of becoming a disciple of Jesus. Jesus is 'The Word', and the gospel is the word about The Word. This word teaches who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and how people are to respond to Him.
Luke 24:44–47 — 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Matthew 28:18–20 — 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Mark 16:15–16 — 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Taking ALL that Jesus said on this subject requires us to add the component statements together to understand the commission He gave to the apostles.
· The commission and their response is based upon the authority of Jesus –
· They were THEREFORE to go.
· In their going they were to preach /proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
· The proclaiming of the gospel was to make disciples of all nations.
· They were to include in this preaching the concepts of repentance and remission of sins.
· They were to make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy spirit.
· Hence, those who believed the proclamation of Jesus' authority were to be baptized.
· Those who thus believed, (repented), and were baptized would be saved (have forgiveness of sins).
· They were then to teach these baptized disciples to observe all that Jesus had commanded.
This is exactly what the apostles did in Acts 2. Peter proclaimed that though the Jewish leaders had rejected and killed Jesus, God had raised him from the dead. Having been raised from the dead He was given all authority – made to be both Lord and Christ (vs. 36). Believing such to be true, the hearers were pricked in their hearts and asked what they must do. To this they were told: "repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus unto the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The result: as many as received the word were baptized. Then they continued steadfastly in the apostle's teaching (teaching them to observe all things that the Lord had commanded).
The same response to the same message will yet produce disciples of Jesus.
Hugh DeLong
